Thursday 7th November 2013

Chris Harris video: Driving the Drayson B12/69EV

Monkey, an 850hp prototype racer and a runway. This will be fast!

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A rather different track test for Chris's video this week. Last week was the Jaguar XKR-S GT in all its mad, bad glory at Oulton Park. This Wednesday we have the Drayson EV car going very, very quickly and rather more quietly at Elvington.

If you haven't already, read the Harris verdict on the Drayson here. It represents a fascinating insight into the potential future of motorsport, albeit one without the aural stimulation we currently enjoy and crave. It's a point Chris mentions in both the story and the video, and a discussion that will undoubtedly run for a while yet.

And what does 850hp and more than 2,000lb ft of electrically-powered LMP1 racer feel like?Watch and listen to find out!

Enjoy the vid

 

[mwstewart]

Incredibly impressive, but oh so soulless.

[toerag]

[anonymous-user]

Funny, Monkey didn't mention that the Jag actually makes more torque (at the rear wheels) than the dyson.......... Surely he should have lined the EV up against an ICE powered LM car rather than a 2ton luxury series production road car??

[4lf4-155]

IA seriously impressive bit of kit!

It must be very hard to gauge speed with no engine noise. You are effectively one sense down, I'd be driving with me eyes on the speedo all the time!

[Jimbo.]

Suddenly, internal combustion engines seem somewhat archaic.

[vincegail]

If this is the future of motorracing, you won't see me at Le Mans again! I'm glad Toyota and Porsche are petrol-powered, because I find the Audi's extremely boring. The utmost respect for Audi of course, and the technology behind this Lola, but it's not my cup of tea.

[Hoppelemine]

I wonder what the battery range would be if it was limited to sensible road car levels of torque and power output?

[anoother]

Now I understand what Drayson meant when he talked about hearing the aero.

Personally, I think it sounds epic. Whether it still will with a grid full of them, or just merge into monoteny, remains to be seen.

[Vladimir]

Wow, that is damn cool!

[Ian974]

I assume from a spectator point of view the noise is going to be somewhat lacking, but from a driving experience, I'm interested. Chris is saying it's 'silent', but you are getting the noise of the drive train picanyway. in the video, mainly the whirring noise of the motor? Does it actually seem silent? A crash helmet and earplugs would do a good job of blocking it out I guess, or is it just a different sort of noise (its never going to have the volume of an ICE) which blends in with the general road noise?
I've said before I'd be happy enough with the whirring as long as it was still fun to drive, and think this may be more relevant to the likes of a caterham or Elise where you have zero sound proofing anyway

[anonymous-user]

Hoppelemine said:

I wonder what the battery range would be if it was limited to sensible road car levels of torque and power output?

It's got a 30kWhr battery system, although not all of that is usable. Unfortunately, with all the racing aero addenda and wide sticky tyres the aero and parastic rolling drag will be quite poor so although the battery is similarly sized to that of the current crop of EV's (BMW i3 = 35kWhr for example), the range will be significantly less due to the high drag.

[mrdemon]

Just built a 48volt 500watt electric bike, electric is awesome power.
And like I said in the P1 thread why the 918 is fast due to that electric torque.

I also run brushless radio control cars they piss on nitro.

[WaferThinHam]

The question has to be how does it stack up performance wise against the original Lola LMP1 car?

Not talking range, just in terms of pure figures and handling.

[mybrainhurts]

It's too quiet, Captain, I don't like it....

[ccr32]

Just watched this and as cool as that thing is, it most definitely is lacking some dirty great fossil fuel guzzling lump in the back of it in the sound department anyway.

So went to youtube to get my noisy F1 engine fix and found this absolute gem - almost certainly a repost, but I think the sunglasses and heel-and-toeing in loafers make it oh so worth a post again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OS_k0V8Bvw

[silver surfer]

Oi!!!.......Where was the Monkey special slow-mo-side-slipping-counter-steering moving shots round the bends of a circuit in this car....?!?

SS

[Schmeeky]

One of the best things about IC engines is the sounds they produce - my old Ducati was a musical instrument on wheels, and I loved to play tunes with the throttle..

But with the performance they already have electric motors seem to be the future, and that future looks rosy! If the whole issue of energy density of petrol versus batteries can be overcome then there's no looking back for 'leccy. I'm sure we can adapt to the new sounds of power and speed, even if petrol ain't involved.

[mybrainhurts]

silver surfer said:

side-slipping-counter-steering tail out, oppo lock

Fixed that for you...

[Dave Hedgehog]

I always thought that a visceral engine provided 50% of the enjoyment of the car, now i would say its 70%

that is without doubt the most boring race car i have ever watched, if this is the future i have no interest in motorsport anymore, i certainly would rather take the bus than own a car this quite

4

[foxhounduk]

4000Nm of torque!!!

hahahaha

I want one so bad.